Even as they are warming up to global luxury brands increasingly, why is it that Indians have preferred traveling abroad to get their latest fashion dose? Are there not enough high-end brands present in India or is it that exorbitant prices they are charging have put off customers big time? “it's both, lack of too many buying options in India or getting their favorite brand’s products at prices higher than what they would have got in places like Italy or the US, are reasons that have increasingly compelled our fashionistas to look outwards,” says
“We have known customers who buy from departmental stores or boutiques abroad, at prices that are upto 40 per cent lower than what you get in India. For example, the same
While studying at Atlanta's Emory University, Nakul was able to identify the need for something back home that wouldn’t require Indians to travel that far to shop for their favorite
It boasts of inventories of as many as 300 boutiques from across different countries who purchase directly from the high-end brands, on its portal. Owing to the price disparity of the
“In Italy, because there is lot of competition, the prices for luxury brands are low as compared to the US where sometimes prices for certain products may be even higher than in India. What we do is if there is a particular Gucci bag you want, on Darveys, we will show you all the international stores that have it so that you can compare the prices in different countries and get the best rate for it,” says Nakul, adding that every order gets delivered in two weeks’ time along with an invoice copy from the original store from where it is being shipped.
One big challenge, he says, he has been able to overcome is that of concern over authenticity of the delivered products. Is it an original or a fake, how does he guarantee that to his customers? There are three things Darveys does: Works with boutiques who have been there in the market for 5 years (if they have a store with 3-year experience, they have an A plus rating with better business bureau); Does four-month quality check with the help of its external company to check every product that goes out of the boutique; takes proof of purchase from these boutiques to ascertain they have been bought from the original brands.
“I want to be sure that something that has been tried on in a store is not being shipped out to our customers. Moreover every product is original, created by the brand itself,” says Nakul, adding that despite these measures if there is a complaint, his portal provide after-care services to customers like replacing it or offering money-back guarantee.
Even as Darveys managed to break even just when it was at the brink of completing its first anniversary in India in August this year, the young founder reveals,"It wasn't really easy. We had been working on getting our business model right for a couple of years, and it took me changing our business strategy twice to get to the third and final one which proved to be successful for us."
He moved from import-selling to wholeseller-import-selling strategy to finally becoming this online marketplace for the finest fashion brands, where at least 100 members are registering themselves daily as of now.
But the pertinent question to ask is there enough demand for high-end brands in our country. Nakul says he is surprised to see that Darveys is surpassing its revenue targets every time. He says he sees all sorts of customers coming to his portal, many even from tier 2 and 3 cities: “People who cannot travel abroad, but have heard from friends and relatives about cheap fashion brand purchases there come to us, people who go abroad and buy also now come to us. Then there are people who would buy from flagship stores In India, but they can get more diverse collection at cheaper prices at Darveys. And then there's another target segment we create and that is someone who aspires to have a Gucci or a Burberry but couldn’t afford it earlier also come to us due to the discounted rates.”
ONLINE SHOPPING PORTALS VERSUS OFFLINE SHOPS (FLAGSHIP STORES)
Luxury portals such as Darveys, GenesisLuxury, Exclusively and others are offering fashionistas options from larger collections of high-end brands as opposed to the flagship stores in India which have limited collection.
Moreover, Nakul says, discounts and early availability of high-end fashion brand products he gives to his customers is a big reason why he sees fashion conscious customers coming to him than going to an offline store. “A company may decide to make a certain product in India available six months later than other countries. In that case, Darveys will get you the product first because of its network of boutiques than compared to the Indian flagship stores,” he says.
Notably, the taxation structure is also very complex for foreign companies to set up their businesses in India. Added to that are the high rentals and lack of funding that act as stumble-blocks in helping them flourish here. Amid all of this, it’s important for them to carry out their branding and marketing strategies to make their presence felt. All factors added, offline stores run into huge losses in India while online portals offering high-end brands are emerging as a more profitable business.